How to Prioritize Updates to Your New Home

Thought you were buying a move-in ready home? Well... you were, kind of. You can live with what you have, but boy is there a lot you want to update.

Feeling overwhelmed by your list? Here's how to prioritize those updates so that you can make a stress-free plan to tackle those projects. 

Clean and organize 

First thing's first. Take a good look around your house.

Is everything put away and organized? Did you deep clean?

It's amazing what a big difference a tidy house makes when it comes to what you think you need to upgrade. Plus, once you know what you have, it's a lot easier to know what you need. 

Take stock

Now that everything is in its place, it's time to take a look around and make a list of all the things you'd want to change in your home.

This is a time where you can be as pie in the sky as you'd like, but don't forget the minor projects, either. 

What we mean by that is, feel free to put your "master bedroom expansion" and "spa bathroom renovation" on the list, but don't forget to add "shelving in the mudroom" and "fixing leaky faucet" to the list either.

What's functional?

Now that you have your list, it's time to start prioritizing.

The first thing you should do is separate tasks into two groups, one for functional improvements and one for fun improvements. 

Now rate all of your functional improvements by what will make the most impact. For example, if you have a leaky faucet, fixing that will make a big impact because you'll conserve water (plus that dripping is probably driving you crazy). But if one of your improvements is, let's say, patching a hole in the screen of a window you never open, then that's fairly low impact. 

What's your budget for remodeling?

And now the hard part. Budgeting.

It's awfully tempting to try to get everything done all at once, credit card debt be darned. But going into debt over upgrades is never a good idea, especially when you just moved in. 

What can you DIY?

Bummed about your budget? The good news is you can save some money and expedite some projects by figuring out what you can DIY.

Don't have a lot of experience in home improvement? Don't worry, that's what YouTube is for! You can find tutorials for just about everything. Just make sure you look up tutorials ahead of time, so you know what you can DIY, and what you should leave up to a professional.

What will increase value?

The last thing you should consider is what projects will increase your home's value. Even if you're not planning on moving for a while, increasing your home's value can give you access to more funds through a home equity line of credit if you ever need them.

Now that you have a game plan, browse our articles for tips and tricks on how to tackle those projects!